Whisper

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

143 hours remaining

(Amaria's POV)

I was helping Mama make the fire for dinner while Amalric and Purrloin were keeping a look-out for Daddy. I pulled back my purple hair into a pony-tail and fixed my emerald eyes on the flickering flames that Mama and I had started up.

I rubbed my tan hands together and blew into them before I joined my big brother. A slight chilly breeze made Amalric's green and purple hair wave. His chocolate eyes stared intently into the wall of whiteness.

Amalric always had this stoic expression whenever Daddy was gone. He said that he was concentrating. When I asked what he was concentrating on, he said, "Everything. When Dad is gone I'm the one who has to protect us." I only nodded, not exactly sure what he meant.

Purrloin clawed up my Beartic clothes and sat on my shoulder, rubbing her cheek against mine and purring. I scratched behind her ear for a while before she hopped onto Amalric's shoulder.

"Dad." He whispered. I peered closer through the snow and picked out a slightly darker figure getting darker by the second. Ama squinted at Daddy in confusion.

"What's wrong Ama?" I asked, using the nickname I gave him when I was little and couldn't say his full name.

"Dad's got something..." He mumbled, and then jetted out to help Daddy. Purrloin yelped when she was exposed to the open and jumped off of Ama's shoulder. She bounded across the snow, through the lichen draping the entrance, and into my arms.

Mama joined me. She placed one hand on my back and cupped the other around her mouth.

"Amalric! What have I told you about taking off in a flurry?" Yet she did nothing else to make him come back.

We waited there as Daddy and Ama got closer. I noticed Mama begin to look concerned. She tapped me between the shoulder blades and, without looking at me, said, "Ria, go get the eating room ready..." I nodded and turned away. This mountain was just a huge junction of catacombs with many rooms. Each with their own purpose. I slipped through the lantern-lit tunnels and into the eating room. We'd call it the dining room but really, whose fancy dining here?

I set each of our individual wood blocks up around the slab of rock we used as a table. I even got Purrloin, Haxorus, and Simisage's rock-carved bowls ready.

Speaking of Haxorus, where was he? He tended to like warm places so my best bet would be...

I went back to the entrance room and sure enough I found Haxorus with his body curled around the fire. I shook my head in amusement when Purrloin jumped from my shoulder and bounded over Haxorus, curling up against him and soaking in the warmth. Haxorus lifted his head and looked at Purrloin, then smiled and lay back down with closed eyes.

Towards the entrance Mama, Daddy, Simisage, and Amalric were all crouched over something. I ran to the group with my arms open. "Daddy!" I shouted with a smile. Daddy turned to me and grabbed me up in a hug. "There's my girl! Were you good for your Mom?" I pulled back to look at him and nodded. "I helped Mama make the fire! It was so fun!" Daddy smiled and ruffled my hair. "That's my girl." I turned to see what everyone was looking at. There was a man with spikey red hair lying asleep on the floor. There was a red Pokémon next to him that sort of looked like Simisage.

I pointed at the man. "Who are they?"

Daddy and Mama sighed and Daddy spoke. "This is Simisear and... your uncle Chili."